History 397REH - ST-Race,Sex,&Emp:Brit&Ind,Hons

Imperialism cannot be understood merely as an economic-military-territorial system of control and exploitation. Cultural domination is integral to any sustained system of global exploitation. Focusing on cultural aspects of imperialism, this course explores the racial and sexual politics of British Empire in India from the late eighteenth to early twentieth century. Using a combination of primary and secondary sources as well as visual and literary material the course will examine how socially constructed racial and gendered hierarchies, and myths about the sexual practices of colonized people were linked to the pursuit and maintenance of imperial rule over India. Simultaneously, we will consider how the complex intersection of race, sexuality, and class influenced the political and social cultures of both Britain (the metropole) and India (the colony). We will analyze key scholarly perspectives on the following: forms of colonial knowledge, theories of Aryanism, colonial masculinities, regulation of sexual behavior and prostitution, and the varying roles of colonial institutions, medical practices, popular discourses, and cultural artifacts in producing racial and sexual stereotypes and in creating distinctions between the colonizers and the colonized.